The present invention is concerned with a plastic cup distributor, for example of the type used for measuring cups for powder detergents.
Cups of this type are, for example, supplied to the distributor of a powder detergent packaging plant and are usually stacked with each cup inserted into the next cup in the stack. The function of the distributor is to separate a cup from the stack when necessary and to supply it to a processing station.
In the case of packaging plants, a cup is intended to be inserted into each detergent container. It is evident, therefore, that the distributor has to operate at the same speed as the container filling speed which has nowadays reached a very high speed.
The distributors with which packaging plants have been equipped up to the present do not always manage to separate a cup from the stack and thus cause problems in high speed production.
Present distributors have a separation station which is disposed between a store for the stack of cups and a tube arranged below the store for removing one cup at a time. At the separation station there are first and second supports for the rims of the cups. The supports are disposed at two different levels whose spacing is slightly less than spacing between the rims of two adjacent cups in the stack. The first and the second supports do not operate simultaneously but alternate with one another. Usually a plate-like component forms both the first supports, i.e. the supports disposed at a lower level, and the second supports, at mutually offset positions on the plate. The plate intersects the mutual vertical alignment of the store and the tube in a transverse direction and is moved in an alternating manner transversely. Thus, when the first supports are operative, the stack is supported by the end cup which is supported by the first supports. When the first supports are moved to their inoperative position and the second supports are moved to their operative position, the end cup of the stack is released and the remainder of the stack is supported on the second supports. The end cup of the stack is thus separated from the others and falls down the removal tube under the action of gravity. When the second supports are moved to their inoperative position and the first supports are moved to their operative position, the stack moves down until the cup which is now at the end of the stack is supported by the first supports so that the stack is again supported by the first supports. However, it is found that gravity alone is sometimes not sufficient to cause the end cup to drop down the tube because the cup is very light, thin and very deformable and therefore may not fall as desired.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a distributor for plastic cups which achieves separation of one cup at a time from a stack in a positive and reliable manner, the distributor being capable of operating at high speeds and being of simple construction.